Having presented the concept in Detroit, Mini is working hard on getting the new John Cooper Works performance variant of the third-gen Cooper to market by year end. Spied here winter testing in northern Sweden, the production prototype sports typical JCW styling cues such as additional air intakes on the front bumper and lightweight alloys housing bigger brakes and red calipers. The rear end is borrowed from the new Mini Cooper S, but that will eventually evolve to include the aggressive rear bumper revealed on the concept.

Under the hood, the new JCW will use an uprated version of the 2.0-liter turbo four that develops 189 hp in the Cooper S, but that should put out around 220 hp to the front wheels in the range-topping Mini. The new Mini JCW should debut by the end of the year.